Greece
Universities Remain Closed
Students occupied colleges at the end of November in support of an administration staff strike, which is now in its 13th week.
Administrative staff in universities went on strike three months ago against government austerity plans that include suspending 1,349 staff, a precursor to large-scale redundancies. The strike brought eight major universities to a standstill, and rectors warned that they would not be able to function effectively with the staff cuts demanded. Most universities are now back operating but three – Athens University, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the National Technical University of Athens – are resisting.
Although only three universities are actively resisting the government’s higher education actions, a high degree of opposition exists across the entire academic community, reports University World News, adding that the ministry seems determined not to budge.
– University World News [1]
November 29, 2013
Norway
Universities to Remain Tuition Free for International Students
Norway’s new conservative government had proposed the introduction of tuition fees for those from outside the European Union who enroll at universities in the country; however, the measure appears to have been defeated.
Norway’s EU obligations prevent it from charging Europeans tuition, but it could charge those students arriving from outside Europe, as Denmark and Sweden have recently done. News in English Norway [2] reported that advocates for tuition say that those outside the country and region are not contributing to Norway’s tax base, and their tuition payments could improve the quality of education. Many deans, however, fear that tuition would scare off many foreign students, as happened when Sweden started charging non-Europeans. The two small coalition partners in the new government killed the proposal in late November when they voted against it.
– News in English [2]
November 28, 2013
Russia
Russia Increases Quota of Tuition-Free Foreign Students
Russia has increased the number of foreign students to whom it will offer tuition-free tertiary studies, to 15,000 a year, up from the previous 10,000.
The directive, signed off by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, aims to promote Russian culture and expand the country’s influence abroad, according to education officials.
Besides people from the former Soviet republics, most foreign students studying in Russia under the scholarship program come from China, Vietnam, Mongolia, Iran and Palestine, according to data from the Education and Science Ministry. The ministry also noted an increase in applicants from Germany, the Czech Republic and Italy.
In June, the Kremlin sanctioned an increase in spending on foreign cultural and educational projects from 2 billion rubles ($62 million) to 9.5 billion rubles by 2020, as part of its plans to improve its image and influence abroad.
– Moscow Times [3]
October 9, 2013
Turkey
President Asks Turkish Universities to Attract More International Students and Scholars
Turkish President Abdullah Gül said during a recent speech that Turkish universities should not hesitate to open their doors to more foreign scholars and students, while calling for increased contact with other academic cultures.
“I will tell the Higher Education Board [YÖK] when I meet them. Don’t hesitate to bring more foreign students and scholars [to Turkey]. Quite on the contrary, let’s encourage it,” Gül said in his address during the start of the academic year at Abdullah Gül University in late October.
“I will consider removing the quotas of foreign students so each university can independently enrol students from other countries as a great contribution to Turkey,” he added. Currently, the number of foreign students that may be enrolled in each university and faculty is determined by YÖK. In addition the state institution, based in Ankara, has the final word in approving each foreign student’s application.
– Kayseri [4]
October 25, 2013
United Kingdom
Indian Graduate Applications Drop
Indian graduate applications to some of the UK’s top universities have plummeted nearly 30 percent this year in the wake of the government’s crackdown on immigration, according to a survey of universities by Times Higher Education.
Across the 18 institutions that supplied figures, there has been an average fall of 8 percent in Indian graduate applications for 2013-14. This compares with a 6 percent rise in such applications from China – the UK’s other main source for overseas recruitment.
Universities suffering a significant fall in Indian graduate applications include the University of Exeter (down 26.9 percent from 1,073 to 784), the University of Edinburgh (down 27.8 percent from 1,800 to 1,300), King’s College London (down 15.6 percent from 1,942 to 1,640) and the University of Roehampton (down 41.1 percent from 265 to 156).
However, the survey also shows that the overall picture on applications from non-European Union students is positive. Undergraduate applications for 2013-14 from non-EU students have risen by an average of 8.8 percent. For graduate applications, the growth is 8.9 percent.
In terms of falling Indian graduate applications, universities widely blamed the government’s scrapping of the post-study work option in April 2012, seen as particularly attractive to students from the country who seek to earn cash to repay the private loans that underwrite their studies. Students wishing to stay on for work must now qualify through the employment visa route and need the offer of a job paying more than £20,000 a year.
– Times Higher Education [5]
October 31, 2013
GPA Pilot at Top UK Universities
Six of the UK’s top universities are among 20 higher education institutions that are taking part in a pilot test of US-style degree classifications. The universities of Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Nottingham, Sheffield and Southampton are among those that will test a grade point average system in a project [6] run by the Higher Education Academy [7].
The “national GPA system” will provide an average from grades achieved throughout a student’s program of study, with the aim of providing additional distinction from the traditional honors degree classifications. This extra information could run alongside current classifications if the one-year pilot is a success. It is being tested to avoid the “cliff edges” between traditional classifications.
– Times Higher Education [8]
October 30, 2013
Foreign Students Outnumber Domestic Students at Graduate Level
According to a recent study, foreign graduate students have outnumbered their UK counterparts at British universities for the past five years.
The study by the 1994 group of universities warns of a future crisis if universities continue to educate the UK’s economic rivals with the skills they need to compete against Britain, which will suffer from a dearth of highly skilled professionals. International student numbers have grown by 90 percent in the past decade while the number of domestic students has risen by just 23 percent in the same time period and fallen by 12 percent in the past three years.
Academics are worried that enrollment among UK students could plunge even further in 2016 when undergraduate students with significant debts from £9,000-a-year (US$14,400) degree programs decide they cannot afford to continue at the graduate level.
The report acknowledges that “on the face of it the sector looks relatively healthy” with student numbers rising by 42 percent over the last decade. However, it argues this masks the fact that the increase is largely down to overseas students whose numbers have shot up by 90 percent.
The report goes on to warn that the number of UK students funded for their programs has dwindled in recent years – with the number receiving help from a research council halving over the past decade to just 825 in 2011-12.
– The Independent [9]
October 24, 2013
British Council Publishes List of Ethical Recruitment Agents
The British Council is getting ready to launch an online list of student recruitment agents that have signed up to certain principles. The new register will list those agents that have taken British Council training, accepted an ethical code of practice and agreed to be assessed again in the future.
There have been concerns that agents may not offer unbiased advice to overseas students looking to study in the UK because they are paid on a commission basis. In a statement, the council said: “The aim is to increase the number, effectiveness and quality of agents working on behalf of UK schools, colleges, language centres and universities and to build agent capacity and professionalism in an industry that plays a key role in the multi-billion dollar worldwide international student recruitment market.”
The list will name those agents that have signed up to the London Statement, a code of ethics brokered by the council last year.
– Times Higher Education [10]
November 24, 2013